Ovie Mughelli
Not just a football player
Happy belated birthday to me I guess. I turned 28 this past Tuesday and had one of the best birthdays ever in my opinion. My birthday started with me waking up early in the morning because I had to go to mini camp. Unfortunately, I don't think Coach Mike Smith would accept me missing a chance to get better with my teammates just because its my 28th anniversary of life on this earth; even if our practices are voluntary. But anyway, after practice I planned to do 3 of my favorite things to celebrate. Relax and play video games, go to the theatre to watch a movie, and EAT some good food at a swanky restaurant. I accomplished the first 2 things without a problem but I never got to have a good quiet meal because my brother and some of my friends took me to a rooftop lounge on top of the Glenn Hotel to a surprise birthday party for me. And I truly was surprised. What surprised me most was that there was so many people that showed up to celebrate with me. Everyone I have met from my networking functions, charity events, football stuff I do around the city, business dealings, or just from hanging out in the city showed up. But what made me feel real good was to see some of my teammates like DJ Shockley, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Jerious Norwood and others stopped by. I can say I really felt special. Something that impressed me was that my backup fullback Corey McIntyre helped to set this up with my assistant. It's not always that you have 2 people who play the same position really be cool with each other on and off the field. I know this because in Baltimore when I was a backup FB the starter showed no love towards me and even told me that I should concentrate on special teams because I would never take his spot. But leaving the party helped inspire and motivate me to become even better in every way because I know that a lot of people got high expectations for me in this city from football to philanthropy and are cheering me on and I definitely don't plan to disappoint. P.S. people keep asking me what I want for my birthday because they think I have everything (which is not true). And I don't know what to tell them. I want to hear from you guys on what some of your favorite birthday presents were or your favorite birthday surprises.
What's up yardbarker? I would say were about half way thru with the mini camps and veteran camps and OTA's (Organized Team Activities) and passing camps, and whatever else Coach Smith is putting us thru to get this team on the right track. After these last 2 months of preparation, I can honestly say there is no team I would rather be on then the falcons. When people encounter change we always compare it to our past experiences and weigh the pros and the cons. With Coach Smiths mini-camps and OTA's some of the players, including myself were not to keen on the long hours we were putting in to prepare for training camp because it was more than we did with Petrino (and more than what most guys are doing around the league). I remember during the off-season in Baltimore, it truly was an off-season and voluntary truly meant voluntary. I distinctly remember some of our camps being no more then 2 to 3 hrs long. The fact that we had so many veterans like Ray Lewis, Steve Mcnair, Jonathan Ogden and even the great Deion Sanders probably allowed us to operate in a more laid back environment in the off-season. As I've mentioned before this was and is not the case in ATL. But there is a special thing happening in Atlanta. Which is why many of my teamate's no longer grumble with the early mornings and extra film sessions when it's only May. At first the coaches would have to beg, plead and even sometimes lay on guilt trips to make sure everyone would come to all the voluntary workouts and camps, but now it is the players who are policing each other and encouraging everyone not only to be here but to make sure we all get better every day as a team. Going thru the motions is no longer an option in Atlanta. Either you work or u get out the way. Being a 6-year veteran, I've seen this team unity thing occur before but never have I seen it happen this early into a team's season or to a team that has had a changing of the guard such as the falcons have had. If you ask anyone on the team last year they all will probably tell you that the fun had been taken out of the game. If you ask these same players that same question today, they will tell u that all we do when we drive thru those gates at Flowery Branch is have fun. A big reason that is happening is because of the tone Mike Smith has set and the tone that the leaders and veterans of the team have set. Coach Smith makes sure to keep the fun in the off-season by scheduling different activities for us such as fishing, bowling, golfing, etc. The funniest thing ever was when he put up a blooper reel of some of the guys worst golf swings with video references to Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore to drive the point home (no pun intended (well it was kind of intended)). Laughter is becoming a way of life at Flowery Branch. If you enjoy what you do, you will always be great at what you do.
Hey Yardbarkers, I have a surprise for you. I know all y'all see me as a bruising Fullback, however little do you guys know, I am also a trained thespian. Upon graduation of college I had a dilemma on whether to go into my first love which is acting or professional football. I reluctantly chose football. While I was out in NY for the NFL draft, ESPN The Magazine gave me a chance to get back to my roots and show all the haters that I can cross over at any time. Below is some of my best work. Excuse my French/ country side accent, I've been away from the game for a while. Enjoy.
"Shock the World" was what the t-shirts read in the Atlanta Hawks stadium. And I think the Hawks did just that. As I've told u guys before, I'm not the biggest basketball fan (but I'm getting there), plus you have to support your home team no matter what. Going to the Hawks game on Monday and Friday changed the whole way I look at basketball and Atlanta's team. It definitely helped that I had floor seats. Because it's a completely different game when you are watching what looks like a bunch of ants scurry around the court compared to when u are on the same level watching these giants dance around the court like gazelles. But back to the shock the world t-shirts, I don't think anyone gave the hawks a chance to even win one game against the mighty Celtics, much less take the series to game 7. The lack of faith from the city in their sports team reminds me of a certain other Atlanta team that starts with an F. I know that the citywide support for the falcons was probably at an all time low last year and I also know that we brought a lot of that upon ourselves, and I know we might have to go thru some of that lack of support at the beginning of the season again but what the hawks have shown me is that if they can shock the world, so can we. And I truly believe that every man on my team feels the same way. No one is giving us a chance next year but no one gave the hawks a chance at the beginning of their season. It just goes to show that we the players have the wonderful opportunity to choose our own destiny. It doesn't matter what the announcers or so called experts or even what skeptical fans say, if the falcons want to go to the playoffs we are going, and I've already set my mind on that. So I am not sure what our t-shirts will say, cuz I don't want to steal the hawk's idea, but it will have something to do with shocking the world. I know the hawks ended up losing the series overall and it really sucked seeing them go down after all their hard work but I think its an excellent foundation to build on so my hats off to the whole team and organization for putting on a great show and giving the falcons a blueprint of how to do what no one thinks can be done.
